I participated in a conference call on Friday with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who was promoting next Monday’s three-hour special edition of Monday Night Raw on USA Network. The program will celebrate 15 years of Raw.
Here are the highlights of the conversation with Austin.
His favorite Raw moment: “I had so many classic moments with Vince McMahon and all the vehicles I got to drive. I think really one of my favorites was whacking Vince in the head with the bedpan when he was in the hospital. I really enjoyed my moments in the ring working angles with Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Anytime I was in the ring with him was a lot of fun also, and he really kind of helped put me on the map in my career. Man, you’re talking about 15 years. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite. I remember when the show first started. It was just a different kind of wrestling show, a different kind of energy, and really just kind of reinvented the sports entertainment business.”
How he’s doing physically and why he hasn’t gotten back in the ring to wrestle: “Where I’m at physically right now, I feel pretty dang good. When you last 15 years in the ring with my type of style, which was very physical, very aggressive, you’re going to have some wear and tear. But where I’m at in my life, I feel really good. I’m down at my ranch right now. I’ve been deer hunting for three weeks. I’m heading back to Los Angeles tomorrow; I’ve got some projects going on there that we’re going to start in January. I could probably, if I really wanted to and if I needed to, I could go out and get two hard years in the ring, but at this point it’s not worth it. I feel really good, and in 10 years when I’m in my fifties, I want to still feel this good, so it’s time to hang it up."
Which young wrestlers will make the biggest impact in WWE: “John Cena just gets better and better; unfortunately, he’s sidelined with an injury. Ken Kennedy was doing really good there for a while, but I think he kind of lost track a little bit. I think it was too many people trying to give him too much advice, and he needed to go back to what he was doing, but I think he’s going to get there. MVP, physically, as a mechanic in the ring, is really good. I like the guy. He still needs to think about the entertainment part of it. I think Randy Orton is really, really good in the ring. I’d like to see him a little bit better on the microphone still, and have an extra gear in his work, but he’d be one of the top guys. I could go on and on and pretty much go down the roster, but those are the guys that are up there right now. Umaga has really impressed me. All of the Samoan guys have always been great workers in the ring and he’s no different. He’s a great big man, and I wish they’d keep pushing him and using him even more than they are. He’s really, really good.”
What distinguished Raw from other wrestling shows: “Just it being a live show – it’s sink or swim time out there. … Just the energy and the feel of the show. It’s hard to describe. … Raw’s a pretty fast-moving two hours. They’re pretty aggressive with the story lines and it’s really action-packed. Some of the story lines have changed a little bit. I like the championship-oriented stuff, more wrestling stuff. The business has changed, just like every other sport has, so it just continues to evolve.
The one match he wished he had gotten to wrestle on Raw: “I wouldn’t have minded wrestling Bill Goldberg. It probably would have been a pay-per-view match. … I thought he should have come to WWE way before he did, but he was getting guaranteed money and I can’t fault him on that decision. But it probably would have been fun to work in a program with him.”
His favorite beer: “Probably Miller Lite. … Every now and then on a Saturday or Sunday, [I’ll have] a couple Coronas with some lime and salt in there, but if I had to go to the store right now and buy a 12-pack, I’d buy Miller Lite. When they were throwing me all those beers – for a while it was Budweiser, and it was Coors Light, and it was Natural Light and it was Miller Lite – I always wanted to switch up beers because I felt like it was giving them some pretty good advertising.”
Watching his matches: “I really like watching the older stuff. I used to really enjoy watching my matches, but then I got to be so picky and I would critique myself so much. … This is not a plug, but I do have a DVD coming out in January or February. It’s going to be pretty much my whole career before WWE, with ECW, and then WWE. I am looking forward to seeing that because, to be really honest, I’ve forgotten a lot of the stuff that I’ve been in. … I love to talk to “Nature Boy” Ric Flair about all of his matches because he’s my favorite professional wrestler, and sometimes I’ll ask him questions, and I don’t feel so bad because he doesn’t remember half of them either.”
Ric Flair’s return to Raw in Charlotte: “I’ve been out on my ranch and I didn’t see it. I’m very happy to hear about that. … To me, he’s the greatest professional wrestler of all time and certainly the greatest world champion of all time, so I just got a ton of respect for the guy. I’m glad to hear that he’s back.”
Working with Santino Marella: “I enjoyed his accent, his voice, and he’s a great talker. … For six weeks in a row or seven, how many ever weeks it was where he was out there just blasting me and the movie, he got better in six or seven weeks – I mean a whole lot better. I think he’s very, very entertaining. I enjoyed doing business with him and I think he’s got a really bright future ahead of him. Right now, and he’s just kind of getting started in WWE, he’s one of the best talkers they have.”
Doing more movies with WWE Films: “Oh, absolutely. We’re working on trying to find one right now. I’ve got a few other things lined up [that I] hope to be starting in ’08 also, but I’m really looking forward to doing another movie with WWE Films. It’s been really hard to find a really great script. I was very proud of The Condemned. I enjoyed making the movie and I’m just looking forward to getting started on another one. In anything you do, and to me acting is no different, you get better with repetition. That’s what I’m looking forward to – more and more repetition and more experience."
Being a guest referee: “That’s when I’m in the best element I can be in because of my knowledge of the business and the way I understand it. … When you get a chance to be right up close, watching someone do what you love to do, that’s the thing that’s most fun for me. I remember a few years back when I was refereeing a match at Madison Square Garden – and I love Madison Square Garden and the people there used to really love me, too – between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar. And it was an absolute stinker. To sit there and be a part of that was very, very hard. You always want to be part of a good match, do your part and watch guys work up close, but that one wasn’t one you’d want to write home about.”
Who he would pick to wrestle against in one last match: “I’d love to have one more match with Bret Hart. But I’d also love to have a match with Ric Flair, but I would have loved to have had a match with Ric Flair when I was a few years younger and he was a few years younger. I don’t think we’d want to do it now, although Ric is still a [heck] of a performer in the ring. … But if I had to have one more, I’d have to go with old Bret “The Hitman” Hart.”
